Design and Preparation of Poly(vinyl alcohol) Flexible Nanocomposite Films Containing Silica Nanoparticles with Citric Acid and Ascorbic Acid Linkages as a Novel Nanofiller Trough a Green Rout
ABSTRACT
To prevent SiO2 nanoparticle (SNP)s from aggregation, surface modification of them was performed using bio-safe citric acid (CA) and L(+)-ascorbic acid (vit C) for the first time. After that, NC films of well dispersed Modified SiO2 (Mod-SiO2) in the poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) matrix (PVA/Mod-SiO2) were prepared using solution casting method. The prepared NC films loaded with different mass fractions (4, 8 and 12 wt%) of Mod-SiO2 were analyzed by several techniques. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that Mod-SiO2 with size ranging between 23-27 nm is dispersed in the PVA matrix. With Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) the amount of attached modifiers was estimated 13 wt%. TGA results also indicated that the incorporation of Mod-SiO2 in the PVA matrix can improve its thermal stability.